Awesome ski day today!

Ready for ski school in the morning!

Ainsley is stocking up on carbs for a busy ski day tomorrow. Very dedicated.

Awesome snow at kirkwood! Tomorrow should be great!

At MOMA in San Francisco. I love this piece! Comments?

Beautiful day in Tahoe today!

In lake tahoe tonight for a little fun. Heading to the slopes tomorrow for a powder day!

Now this winery knows what it's doing with the kids!

Wine tasting tonight.

The old and the new.

Cruise Disaster- My Letter Today to Royal Caribbean

RE: RESERVATION NO. 7218653

SAILING DATE: DECEMBER 27, 2009

MARINER OF THE SEAS

For the holiday party, Ainsley told us she was going to wear all black. We are very proud!

Hosting our neighborhood holiday party this year! Beautiful afternoon today.

Ainsley is my restaurant buddy again tonight!

Ainsley decorating her dreidel cookie at Latkepalooza.

Ainsley's very first day of ice skating!

Surreal outside tonight with the fog!

Surreal outside tonight with the fog!

Today's view.

The karaoke masters!!

Ainsley decided she wanted to have a "picnic" in the backyard for lunch today.

Ainsley is my bar buddy tonight! Always fun to do daddy daughter dinners!

Today's view. Going to miss this place!

The view for the day...

Chillin in the pool in cancun today.

Ainsley having fun this afternoon at the car wash.

Ainsley putting the small conference room to good use!

Small conference room is finally finished!

Phew! Reading is hard work!

November 1 and time for breakfast outside in the yard. A good sign!

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It is surreal seeing the bay bridge empty in the middle of the day. Still closed.

Man what a beautiful day today in San Francisco!

I love my co-counsel. I came over to their offices today for depo prep and this is what greeted me. Note the post it flags arranged in the fan pattern.

Lamenting at the lack of concert quality

Here we have an image from the absolutely incredible Roger Waters show in Denver (followed by a repeat in London because I am obsessed with Pink Floyd) in April 2008. Part II of the concert was a start-to-finish rendition of the Dark Side of the Moon album. I was unfortunately far too young (indeed, not even born yet) to experience the original tour back in the early 70's, but this concert was absolutely, unequivocally one of the most memorable of my life. Having seen many, many concerts in the short period after this one, I can only lament that we are in a state of decline. Has the era of the true entertainer really passed us by?

Belly dancing tongue at angelicas bistro.

Flying model planes today with Ainsley. She really loves airplanes!

This is the part of Colorado I don't miss! Rental car didn't come with an ice scraper.

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Rose bowl

Rose bowl. Why would anyone not live in California!

Rose bowl

Rose bowl. Why would anyone not live in California!

Tailgating at the rose bowl

Tailgating at the rose bowl!

The pen in its dock.

With my new infrared pen from LiveScribe, my quest for a paperless desk grows closer to reality.

Gorgeous day at the beach today!

Got the house decorated for Halloween. Night shots to follow.

Ainsley finally decided she likes pizza!

The last Thursday night farmers' market of the year. Bummer!

Ainsley hanging out with me at the office.

Wine tasting party tonight.

Guess where I am!

Smore party tonight!!

Watching Lewis Black at the mountain winery on Thursday night. Incredibly funny show!!

Tailgating with Mike and Aviva before the Lewis Black show.

Coffee bar for the new office is almost finished. One of these days I will get around to actually practicing law.

Ainsley helping me sand the new countertop for the office!

The new sign is complete, backlighting and all!

Starting the mounting process for the aluminum letters.

Just finished drilling the copper backplate for the new office sign. Next step- backlighting!

The new Colt / Wallerstein office.

Ainsley's new play house.

Some 1500 parts later, I declare victory over the construction of the new play structure!

The view from the new office!

Colt Wallerstein LLP

Check out our official page on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redwood-Shores-CA/Colt-Wallerstein-LLP/106214755801?ref=mf&__a=1

http://www.coltwallerstein.com

Pictures from the Tears for Fears Concert at the Mountain Winery

Looking down into Silicon Valley

At the Mountain Winery to see Tears for Fears

Anniversary dinner at half moon bay.

Duran Duran at the Mountain Winery

At the mountain winery for duran duran

Tailgating at the duran duran concert.

Doug Colt Websites

Colt Wallerstein LLP

Doug Colt

At the San Carlos Farmers' Market (aka Ainsley's Dance Studio)

A beautiful day at the beach in San Francisco

It was a gorgeous day at the beach this Sunday in San Francisco.

Ainsley in Vail

This is Ainsley at the base of the Eagle Bahn Gongola in Vail, CO. Christmas 2008. Right before her very first trip up to ski!

How I Built My Stream and Waterfall

When we first moved to our house in San Carlos in 2003, the back yard was incredibly dull. It was basically just a small patch of grass, and because our soil is so clay-like, nothing grows particularly well. I'm pretty sure that the previous owners had laid new sod about a week before we bought the place, because it started to die only a couple of weeks later and things were looking pretty sorry.

I really love the sound of running water, and because there was a slight slope to the yard, it was the perfect spot to build the waterfall and stream I had always wanted. I had looked into the possibility of hiring someone to build it, but the cost would have been upwards of $45,000. Definitely a deal-breaker! I finally decided to undertake the project myself.

Here's the end-result (click for bigger versions):

Here's how the yard looked when we started (click for larger versions):

The process started with the renting of a back hoe for the day. I had never used one before, but it was pretty straightforward. I used the back hoe to dig out the pond, and the moved the fill from the pond to start building the mound that would eventually become the upper waterfalls. I then used the back hoe to dig out a basic trench for the stream.

Then the hard work began. Using nothing more than a shovel and wheelbarrow, I shaped the pond and streambed. The pond had to have angled sides so that it would be able to support large rocks that would form the sides.

I continued using backfill to build up the mound for the waterfalls. This is where our clay-like soil actually came in handy. I constantly watered it down and compacted it as I built the mound. By the time it was fully built up, it was an incredibly dense, solid piece of material.

Then came the liner. I chose a synthetic liner from Firestone. It's basically a very thick, synthetic rubber that is resistant to chlorine and UV. It typically lasts more than 50 years, and carries a 20 year warranty. The stuff is incredibly heavy, and if you don't buy it at the right place, it's incredibly inexpensive. I found a great company in Ohio called Best Nest that carried the liner in all sorts of sizes. http://www.bestnest.com. It was delivered right to my doorstep with only a few dollars of shipping charges. Considering that all of the liner weighed more than a hundred pounds, this was an incredible deal.

Above, you're seeing about 2 inches of newspaper that I used to line the bottom of the pond. I had already removed any rocks or sharp objects, but used the newspaper as a little extra assurance against any future leaks. I had people at the office bring in their old newspapers for about a month in order to get enough collected.

Note the flexible PVC pipe in the background. I buried this about 18 inches under the surface along the line of the fence.

Below, you can see the stream and pond starting to take shape. Toward the right, you can see the flexible PVC pipe sticking out. It runs along the fenceline on the right and is buried approximately 18 inches under the surface. (Click for larger version)

Above, you can see the rough outline of what would become the streambed.

Above, the basic elements of the waterfall are more or less complete. The entire mound was covered in a single piece of the underlayment material so that there would be no possibility of any leaks. Then I formed three ponds: one at the very top where the waterfall would start, one between the two waterfalls, and then one at the bottom of the second waterfall. From there, the water flows into the stream, which is approximately 75 feet long. The stream then flows into the pond at the bottom, where there is also a small waterfall. The entire system takes about 1,000 gallons to fill. The pond is approximately 12 feet by 12 feet and is about 4 feet deep at the lowest point (where the pump and the filter sit). The water pipe runs along the right side of the mound, adjacent to the gate. It's buried about 18 inches deep along the fence-line.

PLUMBING

Then it was time to talk plumbing. I wanted a BIG waterfall, so this required BIG tubing. I wanted approximately one gallon of water to be flowing every second, and the distance from the pond to the waterfall was going to be approximately 60 feet. Using this Friction Loss Chart, I calculated that I would need two inch piping to avoid too much drag on the water. Unfortunately, 2 inch flexible PVC isn't easy to find, and when you do find it it is incredibly expensive. There was the option of plain old rigid PVC from Home Depot (which is incredibly cheap), but it would have been incredibly difficult to work with it, given all of the angles and curves associated with the pipe run.

I finally found a great company that carried the PVC and would deliver it with no shipping charges! I purchased 80 feet of flexible, 2 inch, direct burial PVC from PondMart. It arrived at my door as a very large coil that weighed upwards of 50 pounds. The stuff is great, though, because it works just like regular PVC. This means that you can use all of the super-cheap fittings available at Home Depot. It also uses the same regular PVC cement, so it's very easy to work with.

Now for the pump. I looked at some of the pumps they sell in the water-garden section at Home Depot and Lowes, but it was clear that they were not up to the task. I needed something that would move about 4,000 gallons per hour, since I wanted about one gallon to be flowing every second (remember the drag associated with the piping and the rise). I finally selected a CalPump Torpedo. Man, what a great pump! It's scarcely over a foot long, goes directly into the pond, and pushes 4,000 gallons per hour. It's virtually silent. I returned to BestNest and purchased it for only $125 with free shipping. I bought a second one, thinking that I should have a backup, but nearly five years later, the original pump is running perfectly.

FILTRATION

With 75 feet of stream bed, this system has to deal with a lot of dirt, leaves, etc. I looked into some out-of-pond filtration systems, but they were very expensive and, worse yet, created drag on the system. I didn't want t sacrifice water flow. I finally decided to build my own filter system and the whole thing ended up costing me about $20.

I started with a plastic file box from Office Depot--the kind that hold pendaflex files. It's about 16 inches long and about a foot or so high. I drilled a 2" hole into one side along the bottom. Then I took about 18" of the flexible PVC pipe and drilled about 75 1/4" holes into it. The idea was to create an intake valve that I would place inside the box, and then make sure the water flow was distributed throughout the box. I inserted the PVC into the box and capped the end of the pipe, using a 50 cent cap from Home Depot. I now had a basic filter box constructed.

Now for the filter media. I love this stuff from KrewKut. I just cut it the size I want and then layer it inside the box. I use about 10 layers of it. I inserted the filter media and then took the plastic lid from the filebox and drilled a bunch of 1/4 in holes in it. Voila! I had built a filter. The whole assembly sits on the bottom of the pond, so water flows through the box top, through the filter media, and then into the intake valve to which I attached the pump. It absorbs an incredible amount of dirt and other debris. I just remove the top about every 6 months, take out the filter media and hose out the debris and dirt, and then put it back in the box. I hide the whole thing underneath rocks in the pond, so it's invisible. The system works great and keeps the water crystal clear!

The filter box sits underneath the small waterfall. You can see in this picture that the rocks keep it fairly well hidden:

LANDSCAPING- ROCKS, ROCKS, AND MORE ROCKS!

A pond and stream obviously involve rocks, and I bought a ton of them. Actually, more than 8 tons. I went to my local landscape supply store, Lyngso, and purchased all of the rocks. The place is great. They literally sell rocks by the ton, and you can use one of their dumptrucks to get everything home. Since Lyngso is only about 5 minutes from my house, it was an easy process. I ended up purchasing the following:

1) Several large slabs of Connecticut bluestone granite for the waterfall edges and for the "backsplash" area, for lack of a better word, behind the waterfalls.

2) Approximatey 10,000 pounds of Sonoma Wallstone. These were generally about 10 inches by 10 inches (but some much larger) and I used them to line the edges of the stream and the pond. I also used them to create some small retaining walls, as I wanted to terrace the back yard. All told, I used about 700-800 of these larger stones for the whole project.

3) Approximately 6,000 pounds of medium size river rocks. These are generally about 2 inches by 1 inch, and I used them to line the bottom of the stream and the pond.

I had the river rocks loaded into the dumptruck closest to the tailgate, and then the big rocks toward the front of the truck. That way, when I dumped them all in my driveway, the big rocks would land on the river rock instead of cracking my driveway. Worked great.

Literally rock by rock, I then moved all of the stones from my driveway to the backyard. Everything was loaded into the wheelbarrow, and it took me a solid week to get everything in place.

One thing I didn't appreciate was how DIRTY all of those rocks were, as they looked pretty clean on the surface. I had put in maybe two or three bucketfulls of the river rock and then rinsed them off so that the water flowed into the pond. It was instantly disgusting. I soon realized that I would have to pre-rinse all of the rocks before they went into the stream or the pond. I built a little "sluice box" (kind of like the miners used to use in streambeds). It was slow-going, but it worked well.

ELECTRICAL

The electrical for the whole setup was pretty straightforward. I added a new circuit solely for the pond pump, and ran underground conduit to the pump site. I then fitted it with a GFI circuit, just in case something ever went wrong with the underwater pump. Finally, I wired in X10 modules so that I could control the whole thing remotely. The end result is this nice looking switch in my den that lets me turn the waterfall or underwater lights on or off remotely.

AUTOMATIC WATER LEVEL

What's "Pond Fill" on the switch you ask? That was a whole separate issue. Originally, I had planned on just filling up the pond with a hose, and then topping it off occasionally. It was quickly clear that this wasn't going to work, given the amount of evaporation each day, not to mention how much that process is accellerated when the waterfall and stream is running.

There was an easy solution. I simply added another circuit to my sprinkler system, with the main manifold being only a few feet away from the pond. I spent a total of about $15 to add a new solenoid and to purchase the PVC to run a water line into the pond. Then I simply programmed my already-existing sprinker system so that the water comes on for about 1 minute in the morning, and about 1 minute in the afternoon. This keeps the water level at the proper level and accounts for any evaporation during the day. I also added an overflow drain to the pond so that in the event it rains too much, the water just flows out of a pipe into the street, instead of into my yard.

I also added an X-10 module to the water circuit (the "Pond Fill" switch). This allows me to add water to the pond remotely anytime I want. So if the waterfall has been running all day and the water level is getting a little low, I can just hit the switch and add water.

CHLORINATION

From the beginning, I never planned on having fish in the pond, so I knew I could take advantage of chlorine to keep the water clean and free from Algae. Originally, I just added a little powdered chlorine to the pond every day, but it quickly became apparent that this was not a good system. I didn't understand how quickly chlorine dissipates, especially in direct sunlight. This meant that there would be periods of time during the day where the chlorine content was zero, giving algae and other nasties an opportunity to grow. I tried using chlorine tablets, but they worked very poorly and also did not solve the problem of low chlorine levels during the day, as the chlorine would not disperse into the pond when it wasn't running.

The solution came from an unlikely source. I was browsing the aisles of Home Depot (shocking, I know), and noticed that they sold liquid chlorine. I figured that if I could build a system to automatically add some liquid chlorine to the water from time to time, that would be an ideal solution.

Enter my homemade VENTURI INJECTOR. The Venturi principle means that when water moves from a high pressure zone to a low-pressure zone, it creates a vacuum. This effect can be accomplished by sharply reducing the diameter of a water pipe and then re-expanding the diameter immediately afterwards. At the point where the diameter is reduced, the speed of the water increases, creating a vacuum.

Using off-the-shelf PVC parts at Home Depot, I built a Venturi injector and then added the injector to my pre-existing water line for filling the pond. Here's a picture of the basic components that went into the injector. Water flows into the injector from the right side. The second gray piece reduces the diameter of the pipe, thus increasing the speed of the water flow. The vacuum occurs at the top of the "T" in the three-way PVC joint you see below. This vacuum is connected to vinyl tubing, which is inserted into a gallon of liquid chlorine. I then connected a pipe to the left side of the assembly, with the pipe flowing directly into the pond.

The way this all works is pretty simple. When the water comes on to top off the pond, the Venturi Injector creates a vacuum. I ran a small piece of flexible tubing from the injector into the top of a gallon of liquid chlorine. When the water comes on, it sucks out a small amount of chlorine and mixes it into the water. Just one gallon lasts over one month. Thus, when the water comes on in the morning and the afternoon, chlorine is automatically added to the pond and circulated with the existing water. This means that the whole system is now entirely automated, and I can go on vacation without having to worry about the chlorine levels in the pond. Since I put this system in place, I haven't see a bit of algae in the pond and the water is always crystal clear.

The entire assembly sits underground in a sprinkler control box. It's important to keep the chlorine out of the sun, as the UV neutralizes its effectiveness.

LANDSCAPING

In addition to the stream and waterfall, this project involved a ton of landscaping. Using the Sonoma Wall Stone that I used to line the edges of the stream, I also built some small retaining walls in order to create a flat, terraced area for the firepit. We selected plants that needed very little water, and I installed a large drip irrigation system for all of them; it includes about 500 individual drippers on the various plants throughout the back yard. The end result is that my water bill each month is usually less than $30, and there is very little weeding to be done. Essentially nothing grows beyond the plants that I put in because there is no water unless a dripper was installed.

LIGHTING

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with lighting, and this project was no exception. At night, the whole landscape is illuminated by 18 line-voltage flourescent floodlights. I HATE low voltage lighting. It is expensive, weak, and generally useless. With line voltage, it's a lot more work up front, but the end result is far superior to what you can get with low voltage equipment.

Each floodlight puts out the equivalent of a 65 watt regular bulb, and each light is hidden behind some sort of feature (a tree, a rock, etc.). I believe it's essential that you can't see the light source, only the effect. I also installed some underwater lighting in the pond, which shines up through the water on the small waterfall. The end result is pretty spectacular if I do say so myself! I'll try to take some evening pictures and see if I can capture the lighting effect.

THE PATIO

The rest of the project included putting in paver stones on the patio, and installing overhead heaters above the outdoor table. We love eating outside, but it can get a little chilly in the wintertime.

When all was said and done, the stream and waterfall were essentially finished about 6 months after I started the process. I tinkered (and continue to tinker) with all of the landscaping for another year after that. It's always a work in progress, though, and I'm always tweaking little details, moving rocks around, etc. It's kind of a labor of love at this point! A series of pictures below; some are clickable for larger versions.

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Grammar is no longer relevant

I admit it. I have been a "grammar nazi" for many, many years. I have always believed that it is important to maintain a semblance of order in the way we write. This fight appears to be coming to an end.

I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have seen, in well-respected publications, the use of the term "alot". (Yes, I know the period goes before the quotation mark. I am placing it afterwards because that is the exact "term" that was used by many people.)

So yes, the word "alot" is not a word. The term is "a lot". It's not that difficult. Yet "alot" appears over and over and over....

But today, I became truly disillusioned. I was reading an article on Fox News. Sorry. In any event, it was discussing something of interest, and it referred to "it's presence has been difficult." Jesus, people. "It's" means "it is". "Its" is the possessive. How in the world has print journalism (if you can count the web as that) devolved to the point where writers don't know this fundamental distinction. I think armageddon is at hand.

ainsley has got this shower thing down!

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Ainsley Helping Me Build a New Ladder

Aviva wanted a new ladder for the loft that was easy on bare feet, so Ainsley and I took on a little construction project over the weekend. She's got a great future in carpentry!

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At the KFOG Kaboom Concert

This was tons of fun. On Saturday, we went to the KFOG Kaboom concert / fireworks display on Pier 32 underneath the Bay Bridge. The fireworks were fantastic and it's always fun drinking Champagne on the CalTrain on the way up.

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Ainsley and Her Umbrella

She's finally got it all figured out! This is at the Sofitel hotel at the end of April to watch the Cal crew team.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Mountain Biking at Crystal Springs Reservoir

Just up the hill from our house are the Crystal Springs Reservoirs. They are one of the major water sources for San Francisco, and they sit directly on top of the San Andreas fault. The trails surrounding the reservoirs are unbelievably gorgeous. This Sunday, Ainsley and I got out for our first big mountain bike trip of the season. More to come!

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The Farmers' Market is Back!

Hooray! It's May and that means that the Thursday evening Farmers' Market is back until September. This is one of my favorite things about living in San Carlos. They close off a few blocks of the main street downtown every Thursday, and pretty much the whole town shows up. There's live music in the park and just a great atmosphere all around. Ainsley had a ton of fun dancing for over an hour!

More Pictures of Ainsley in Vail- Christmas 2008

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The Colt Duck Ranch

Here's a great satellite shot of the Colt family duck ranch in Alamosa, Colorado. I have great memories of duck and goose hunting down there while growing up in Colorado. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to take Ainsley for an outing in the next couple of years!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=colt+duck+ranch&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.285401,114.257812&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=13&iwloc=A

Martindale Lawyer Listings

Ah, my listing on Martindale Hubbell:

http://www.martindale.com/Doug-Colt/2306382-lawyer.htm

How did I miss this? The Macaroni Push Pop

More pictures of Ainsley Colt

At the beach in San Francisco for the wedding of our friends, Kelly & James.

In Squaw Valley, CA after taking Ainsley on my bike. September 2008.

Lake Tahoe, CA. September 2008.

Ainsley in her bat shirt- October 2008.

Ainsley at the pumpkin patch near Half Moon Bay, CA. October 2008. A family tradition now for several years!

Ainsley with Winston at my parents' house- Christmas 2008

One of my best friends, Charles Kinsolving, and I got Winston during our senior year at Washington University in St. Louis-- this was back in 1996!! He was just a tiny little puppy back then! For the past many years, he's enjoyed roaming around the acres of hillside at my parents' house. Ainsley took a liking to him right away!

At the Willie Nelson concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco- Jan. 2009.

Ainsley Colt in the cockpit of a 747 at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos / Redwood Shores, CA. She loves it so much I had to buy an annual membership!

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Had a great Saturday in Santa Cruz

This Saturday, our friends Juliet and Daric came up to visit from L.A. and we spent Saturday evening down on the beach in Santa Cruz. I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed to have wine out there, but no one seemed to mind!

I really need to visit Dubai

This is a picture of the Burj Dubai skyscraper in Dubai, UAE as of January 2009. It's topped out now at 160 floors, with a total height of more than 2,600 feet. This is definitely one of the spots I'd like to visit at some point in my life!

Ainsley & Great Grandma Grace. About 6 months old.

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Ainsley Tubing in Vail- December 2008

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Ainsley Colt Holiday Pics

The Best Concert of My Life

Last April, my wife Aviva and I traveled to Denver, Colorado to see Roger Waters. I had missed the Pink Floyd Pulse tour back in the 90's and never had a chance to see the band live. When I learned that Waters was going to do the entire Dark Side of the Moon album from start to finish, I knew I had to check it out. The concert in Denver also gave us a great excuse to take Ainsley and give her some time with my folks in Colorado Springs.

The concert was an absolutely incredible experience. Even Aviva, who's not a huge Floyd fan, walked out and said "Well, I'm not sure I can ever see another concert again." Yeah, it was that good!

Knowing that this could be the last time Waters ever toured, I managed to convince Aviva to go to London with me a couple of weeks later to see Waters again. We put together a fantastic, last-minute trip. We left San Francisco on a Friday afternoon, got into London about 2 p.m. local time, grabbed a quick nap, and then headed out on the town. We hit up Ministry of Sound and a plethora of local bars. Finally on Monday night, it was time to see Waters again at the O2 Arena. He didn't disappoint!!!

Listed myself as a Cheyenne Mountain High School alumnus

Ah, CMHS. So many horrible memories and a few really good ones. I'm now listed as an official alumnus:

http://cheyennemountainhighschool.org/alumni/1126635/doug-colt.html

Does anyone use Classmates?

Apparently I have a profile on Classmates.com:

http://www.classmates.com/profile/user/view?registrationId=277068081

I've never really used it though, as they require a monthly subscription fee. It seems like it's a lot easier to keep in touch with everyone using Facebook, but I'm curious if anyone has found that Classmates.com offers any kind of a better experience.

Check out my Facebook profile

Starting to have a lot of fun with Facebook, especially posting pictures of little Ainsley!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Doug-Colt/1332017609

What exactly is the point of twitter?

Ok, so I admit that I've become somewhat addicted to Facebook and I even occasionally update my status. But it seems that Twitter does exactly the same thing, but in a much less fun way. What gives?

http://twitter.com/dwcolt

Join my professional network

Professional networking is apparently becoming the rage, so I've decided to get myself listed on LinkedIn. Please feel free to view my profile and join my network!

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/doug/colt

http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougwcolt

I am incredibly happy with Apple today

So yesterday I was cleaning the screen of my beloved iPhone and discovered that there was a ton of dust underneath the glass. I have no idea what happened or how it got there, but I guess a seal must have come loose or something. In any case, I made an appointment at the Genius bar at the local Apple store, went there about an hour later, and less than 10 minutes after I walked in the store I walked out with a brand new iPhone. Fantastic! I was expecting to have a big fight on my hands and instead, Apple just made it right. Very refreshing to have a good experience like that!

Finally decided to joint MeetUp

http://www.meetup.com/members/3857619/ Looking forward to meeting some people in the area who enjoy wine tastings and traditional games!

Cool new site

This is a pretty cool site I found. Let's you update the places you've visited and keep in touch with other travelers:

http://member.wayn.com/dwcolt

Ainsley Colt is Skiing!!

I took Ainsley skiing for the very first time in Vail over Christmas. She was just over 2 years old and I was really impressed at how much she liked it! She could go for about 10 feet at a time without falling and she actually took a little turn (in the pic). I can't wait until next year when I can get her into ski school and start teaching her for real!

Welcome to my Blog!!

This year over Christmas, I took my daughter, Ainsley Colt, skiing for the very first time. She wasn't yet 2 1/2 years old.

This was an incredibly special experience for me, as I first learned how to ski in Vail when my parents took me for the first time in 1976. It was great to bring my little one out for the very same experience, although Vail sure has grown up in the past 30 years!



Doug Colt and Ainsley Colt:

Doug and Ainsley in Vail, Colorado over Christmas, 2008. Ainsley's very first ski trip at 2 years old!